Remember when video game adaptations were all but guaranteed to be bad? HBO's hit The Last of Us helped shatter those expectations, drawing in legions of viewers who don't know a PlayStation 5 from an Atari 2600. While there's enough material left for a fourth season, and showrunner Craig Mazin has said as much, it seems HBO has other ideas.
HBO Programming Boss Casey Bloys talked to Deadline recently and when asked if Season 3 would be it last, he said "it certainly seems that way." He did hedge his bets by saying they follow the showrunner's lead on such things.
Bloys also noted The Last of Us wouldn't echo Game of Thrones in going beyond the story that George R. R. Martin had written. Considering how much fans hated the GoT ending, that's perfectly understandable. The oldest adage in showbiz, after all, is to always leave the audience wanting more.
The Deadline article also points out what may be the real reason HBO is ready for this series to shuffle off its undead coil. The streamer has a quartet of hit shows in The Pitt, Heated Rivalry, Industry and GoT spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. They all cost a fraction of what shows such as House of the Dragon and The Last of Us do. The apocalypse drama has episodes that cost as much as $15 million.
With Warner Bros. about to be purchased by somebody soon, the merger minded are looking for ways to cut costs. It's not cool, but at this level all creative decisions are financial decisions first.